by Trisha Linde
Ella shrugged and gave a little private smile. “What can I say? It translates to Wolf Wolf.”
I scoffed and would have given her a hard time if my eyes hadn’t lit upon what else was in the envelope… a driver’s license!
“Hey, Noel, look! I can drive!” I shouted, shoving the plastic card under Noel’s nose.
“Seriously!” Ella yelled in frustration, slapping a hand across my mouth. “Haven’t you ever heard of a secret? Geez, this isn’t exactly aboveboard, you know.”
Ella scowled around at all her family members to make sure they were at least pretending not to have heard.
“What?” Nana yelled across the room. “My hearing isn’t what it used to be. Did I miss something? I feel like I missed something. You know how much I hate that.”
When nobody immediately answered her, she took a deep breath, filling her lungs to get even louder. We were saved from her tirade when Pierce leaned over and said, “Wolf was just saying that he really wished you’d sit next to him.”
“Oh?” she said, eyebrows raised. I wondered if anyone had ever made that request before, and I took a deep breath, plastered on a smile, and scooted Ella out of her seat.
I patted the newly vacated chair. “Come sit by me,” I encouraged.
Everyone exchanged worried glances, but my heart warmed at the thought of the quirky matriarch. This huge family dinner was more than I ever could have hoped for. I’d been on my own for so long that I would take all the family I could get. Even if she was giving me the lewdest wink I’d ever received.
For the next hour, we all talked and ate. I mostly sat back and just basked in the warmth of this room. Baby Marie was nestled into Finn’s arms, and my eyes darted frequently back to her sleeping form.
Could this be in our future? Surrounded by loved one, generations of children and grandchildren?
Once dessert started, Daniel hopped up into my lap. He seemed content enough to just cuddle, so I let him be.
“Damn cat,” Nana mumbled, scowling. “Can’t wait to see the tail end of that beast.”
Pierce, sitting on her other side, gave her hand a pat. “I promise we’ll take him home with us, Nana.”
“You’d better. This house ain’t big enough for the both of us.” Nana then leaned forward and engaged in some kind of alpha standoff. Daniel didn’t seem at all disturbed by her behavior, but he likewise wasn’t about to look away first.
I leaned over to Noel and whispered, “Oh man, you owe me for this. Big time.”
“I will gladly spend all of eternity paying you back.” He was joking… mostly, but by the tightening around Noel’s eyes, and the gaping pit in my gut, I knew there was more than a little worry on both our parts. Eternity was a long time, and I didn’t want to spend it without him, the two of us forever searching for our other halves. Not when I had him here by my side right now.
I reached out and gripped his hand tightly. Maybe if I just refused to let go, I could keep him forever.
17
Noel
8 months later
“Happy anniversary,” I whispered into Wolf’s ear. He sighed, still stubbornly asleep. Even though it was still early, the sun was giving its best shot to warm things up. I had no doubt it was going to be a scorcher.
I trailed my fingers across his shoulder, down his arm. He stirred a little, but still wasn’t giving me the response I was hoping for. Well, there was one guaranteed way to wake up an alpha.
I gently rolled him onto his back and slid my body overtop of his. This was nearly impossible to do stealthily at my massive size, but I did my best. Wolf gave a little stretch, but hadn’t opened his eyes yet. Yep, I was pretty much a ninja.
The moment my lips wrapped around his cock, I felt an immediate response. He began stiffening at my ministrations, and his hands came down to rest on the top of my head. Soon, they were tugging and guiding me. His sleepy sighs became needy moans.
I pulled away with a wet popping sound, and Wolf pulled me up the length of his body, claiming me with a passionate kiss.
“Well, good morning to you too,” he said breathlessly.
I gulped a breath of air and smiled. “As I was saying, happy anniversary.”
Wolf laughed. “You don’t have to say that every month. Not that I’m complaining,” he corrected.
We’d been married for seven months now. It hadn’t been the big affair that Finn and Pierce had, just a quick trip down to City Hall with our small group of adopted family. But it had been beautiful, exactly what we wanted.
Maybe if we lived through this, we would consider renewing our vows and invite the whole town to the next wedding.
I pushed the thoughts of my uncertain future to the back of my mind. I was getting surprisingly good at ignoring it. Besides, the naked man beneath me certainly made for a good distraction.
I couldn’t help grinding down against him to relieve the pressure of my throbbing cock. I may not have been able to see it around my burgeoning belly, but I could most definitely feel the desperate need for my mate. I rubbed our dicks together, building up some friction and drawing a groan from Wolf.
I nipped at his neck. “I have to go to work soon, so we should probably hurry.”
“Maybe you shouldn’t be working anymore,” Wolf said, his eyes scrunching up with concern. This was his standard reaction to most things these days.
“I promise I’ll take it easy. I just have to go in to wrap up a few things, and then I’ll hand all my cases over to Ella. Now, hurry up and fuck me.”
“Are you sure you’re still okay? I mean, you’re getting awfully pregnant.”
I leaned back and raised an eyebrow at him. “Getting pregnant? I’ve been fully pregnant for over eight months now. I don’t think I can get any more pregnant than I already am.”
“You know what I mean,” he said, giving my ass a playful pinch.
I squealed and gave a wiggle, which just rubbed things together again and had us both gasping.
“I just mean,” Wolf clarified, gritting his teeth against the sensation, “I don’t want to do anything to put you or the baby at risk.”
“I asked Dr. Evans at my last appointment, and he said it looked like I was still a couple weeks away from delivery and sex was still completely fine. Now, will you do me already? I’m not above begging.”
I sat up and moved my hips, lining up my slick entrance until I could feel Wolf pulsing at my doorstep.
“You’re killing me,” he groaned. “A man has only so much restraint.”
“And what about a wolf?” I teased, pressing back against his erection.
“Even less,” he growled, tensing against me.
I was getting ready to slam down onto him when a cramp squeezed around my belly. Wolf must have seen something on my face because he went immediately into protector mode. He grabbed my hips to stop me from moving. “Are you okay?”
“Yeah,” I said with more than a fair share of doubt. “Just a cramp.” The nightmares still hit me nearly every night, and while this was nowhere near the amount of pain I’d experienced in my sleep, the worry still crept in around the edges of my mind.
“Are you sure?” Wolf asked. I nodded, but he wasn’t convinced. “Here,” he said, gently laying me down on my side. He moved behind me and rubbed my lower back. “How’s that?”
“That’s better,” I told him. He could tell I was lying, though. He knew me too well.
“Do you want me to run you a bath?”
I gasped as I felt something warm trickling out of my ass and a wet spot forming beneath me. “Please tell me I just wet the bed,” I whispered, panic beginning to creep up from my fingertips.
Wolf threw back the blankets, and the cool draft helped to clear my head.
He didn’t answer me, which was scarier than if he’d said anything. He went still beside me, and the bed vibrated with his low growl. It wasn’t me he was growling at, and if I could growl, I would join him.
“It’s too early,”
I said, and my words hung in the air between us.
The territory we were about to enter was both new and eerily familiar. “I don’t want to do this,” I whimpered, and I hated the sound of my own voice. I wanted to be strong, fierce. I wanted to take a leisurely stroll down to the hospital, revelling in the beauty of childbirth. I wanted to be excited to meet our little one.
Instead, I was terrified that I would never get to lay eyes on them.
“Stay where you are,” Wolf said, his rumbling voice a comfort to my frayed nerves. “I’ll take care of everything.”
He got my bag and threw on some clothes. Then he brought a towel to clean me up, and some loose-fitting pants and a t-shirt, and helped dress me.
“Are you hungry?” he asked. I wasn’t supposed to eat before delivery, but I was also worried I wouldn’t have enough energy to get through this. Everything I learned at the birthing classes was lost to me now.
I panted with the anxiety. “I don’t know,” I gasped. “I have no idea what to do. I can’t remember!”
Wolf lowered himself down in front of me. “You’re okay,” he reminded me. I looked into his eyes and saw through their depths to everything he’d been through to get here. “I promise you, no matter what, I will not leave your side. Wherever we go, we go together.”
A small cramp tugged at my stomach, and the remembered pain licked at my mind. I clutched onto Wolf’s hands tight and nodded. “Together.”
He helped me out to the car and drove us to the hospital. That driver’s license was coming in handy, and I congratulated myself on teaching him how to drive properly. He normally went much faster than this, though.
“Maybe drive a little faster?” I said as a stronger contraction gripped me.
Wolf glanced over at me, and I tried not to see the fear in his expression. He quickly darted his eyes back up the road and pressed down on the gas.
Within minutes we were at the hospital, and Wolf drove the car right up to the emergency entrance. He ran in and came dashing straight back out with a wheelchair, and trailing a nurse behind him. The nurse’s relaxed demeanor was at such odds with my frame of mind at the moment, and I didn’t find it at all a comfort. I needed to know that they were taking this seriously.
Wolf, at least, could be counted on. I could see the tension in his muscles; he was in full defense mode, ready to attack anyone who looked at me sideways. It was unfortunate that the threat was not something that we could face head-on.
The worst part of the whole experience wasn’t the building pressure, or even sitting in my dampening underwear. It was the waiting. First, there was waiting while we filled out the paperwork. Then, there was waiting until a room was prepared for us. The staff was all smiles and kind words of encouragement, but I didn’t hear any of it. Instead, I was waiting.
I was waiting for fate to do what she must.
The hospital gown was scratchy, the bed was soft as a piece of plywood, but to be honest, nothing could have made me comfortable right now. The pain was ramping up quickly, minute by minute, though Dr. Evans, who stopped in to check on me regularly, said I was dilating nicely, all according to plan. Well, we had been here all day, I wish the plan took a little less time.
“How are you doing?” Wolf asked weakly. I could see how frustrated he was. It wasn’t in his nature to just stand by and do nothing. He was clenching and unclenching his hands, the skin white over his knuckles.
I took his hand in mine and smoothed a hand over his taut skin until his hand relaxed. “I’m here. You’re here.” I shrugged. “It could be worse. I could be here without you.”
Wolf chuckled darkly. “It’s all my fault you’re here in the first place.”
“Hey,” I said, pausing until he looked up into my eyes. “Before you came along, I was lost, alone. I watched everyone around me find their true loves, their lives marching ahead without me. But I made a wish on a falling star, I wished to find my soul mate.” I brought Wolf’s hand to my lips and kissed it gently. “And Fate brought me you. I wouldn’t have it any other way.”
Wolf’s lips quirked up in a lopsided smile. “I love you,” he whispered and leaned forward to plant a kiss on my forehead.
“I love—” My words were snatched from my lips when a band of fire ignited through my abdomen. A wail erupted from me, and suddenly there was a flurry of action in the room. I saw Dr. Evans sweep in, and he stationed himself at the foot of the bed, scooping my feet up into stirrups. He took command, directing the nurses.
An IV was inserted into my hand, and soon enough, everything was blurry around the edges. I was vaguely aware of Wolf snarling at the staff, yelling for them to do something. The coppery tang of blood filled the air.
Somewhere in the drug-induced haze, I felt like I was falling and I didn’t have a parachute. I tried to call to Wolf, to ask him to catch me, but my lips were numb, and when he grabbed hold of my hand, I couldn’t feel it.
Darkness encroached on my vision, and I heard Wolf’s words repeated in my mind… “I will not truly live until we are once again reunited. Will you wait for me?”
“Forever,” I whispered before shadows closed around me.
18
Wolf
In those few moments, mere seconds, I felt like I was going to lose my mind. There was so much blood! Noel’s body went slack, his hand limp, and his skin was so pale. I thought for sure I’d lost him for a second time.
“No!” I roared, and I felt my fangs pressing against my lips. My vision went red with rage, tinting the white sterile room in a rosy haze. My claws lengthened, and I had to hold myself back from completing the shift.
It would have been easy to shift, to slough off my humanity and give myself over to the beast. It was what my ancestor had done hundreds of years ago when we lost him the first time.
But I made a promise to Noel. Wherever he went, I went. We would be together… forever.
Fate was a tricky bitch. All this time, all this searching, for nothing.
Well, I didn’t want to play her game. This time, I would follow Noel into the afterlife. Nothing could keep us apart. I reached up to my throat, lining my claws up with my pulse thrumming in my neck. It would only take a second, just a quick swipe—
But then my eyes fell on the machine beeping beside Noel’s bed. Wasn’t that line supposed to be flat?
And then I turned to the rest of the room and saw the doctor working feverishly, the nurses set to their tasks. And I realized… they wouldn’t be working at this speed if Noel were dead. I looked back to my mate and saw that Noel’s chest was still rising and falling in a slow, shallow breath. He may have been unconscious, but his heart was still beating!
My hands dropped from my neck into my lap in a limp heap. My breath released in a huff. Was there a chance he could still survive?
“I need you to step back,” a young nurse said. She tugged on my arm, and I knew that Noel’s best chance rested in their hands. Noel and I had come full circle. Our situation was the same, but the setting was entirely different. Noel had said modern medicine could have saved Adam’s life and that of their child. Well, it was time to test if he was right.
I reluctantly let go of his hand, promising him that it would just be for a moment. “I’m not going anywhere,” I reassured him, hoping he could hear me.
I couldn’t watch. All I could see was the blood dripping to the floor, the expressions of fear and pity on everyone’s faces. I crossed over to the window, wiping tears from my cheeks, and looked up to the twilit sky. A different time, a different place, but we were still under the same sky. A star streaked across the wide expanse.
A star was what had reunited soul mates at last; maybe it had the power to keep us together.
I closed my eyes tight and sent a silent prayer up to Fate, begging for forgiveness, for mercy. “Please,” I whispered. “Please bring my soul mate back to me. We belong together. I am nothing without him.”
A baby’s cry brought me back to the chaos behind me.
I spun around, my wish still tingling on my lips.
Dr. Evans held a wriggling infant in his hands, slick with blood and crying to high heaven. “It’s a boy,” he said with a quick smile as he handed the baby to the waiting nurse. The umbilical cord was cut without ceremony; there was no time. She wrapped my son into a blanket and brought him over to a separate table to clean him off and check him out.
My heart gave a squeeze, unsure of what rhythm to take. On the one hand, I wanted to rush forward and celebrate the birth of my son. But half of my soul still lay on the bed. “And Noel?” I asked with a quaking voice. “Is he…?”
“He’ll be okay,” the doctor ensured, though he couldn’t look at me; his hands were still moving, sewing. “I’ve got the bleeding under control. He’ll be okay, but… it was close,” he admitted quietly, his eyes darting to mine. “Under different circumstances, he wouldn’t have made it.”
I let out a shaky sigh. Noel was right.
The nurses cleared the bedside, and someone pushed a chair over. I plopped down into it with a mumbled thanks and took Noel’s hand in mine. Though limp, it was warm, and I clung to it with all I was worth.
My eyes drifted over to where our son was being swaddled. “We have a son,” I whispered to Noel, leaning over the bed to be closer to him. “You did it.”
I silently begged for his eyes to open, but he remained stubbornly unconscious. “When will he wake up?” I asked Dr. Evans.
He went over to the sink in the corner to wash himself up. “We’ll have him sedated for a little while longer, but give him a few hours. He’ll be all right.”
A nurse brought the baby over, swaddled tightly and sleeping peacefully. “Would you like to hold him?”
“Yes, of course,” I said, in complete awe. She placed him in my arms, and it felt… impossible. He was so solid, and yet fragile. Here, in my arms, was the tangible evidence of our fated love. I leaned back in the chair, not taking my eyes off his delicate features, his feathery eyelashes. And then he opened his eyes. They were a deep blue, and I fell into their depths.